


Our story to live

by notquiteascrazy



Series: SH Bingo Fills [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alec Lightwood Deserves Nice Things, And so insanely thoughtful, Fluff, M/M, Magnus Bane Deserves Nice Things, These two are just the sappiest, christmas gifts, for real this time, they're so painfully in love, this is the softest thing i've ever written
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:01:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28222095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notquiteascrazy/pseuds/notquiteascrazy
Summary: Christmas presents are tough when they’re for a Warlock who has everything he could ever want
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Series: SH Bingo Fills [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2067408
Comments: 15
Kudos: 71
Collections: Fluff vs. Angst Battle 2020, SHBingo 20-21





	Our story to live

**Author's Note:**

> This work was written for SH Bingo 2020-2021 from the Hunters Moon Discord Server.  
> For the Christmas Fic square

Alec sat cross legged on the floor by the christmas tree. Soft carols crooned through the loft and snow fell outside, piling high on the window ledges. The reflections of delicate white lights adorning the tree twinkled in Magnus’ eyes where he sat across from him. They touched only at the knees, where Alec could feel warmth radiating from the small points of contact, even through his sturdy combat pants and Magnus’ skintight denim jeans.

Alec felt the muscles in his shoulders and back relaxing slowly, as he breathed deeply and inhaled the warm scent of cinnamon that suffused the loft. Underneath the spicy aroma, he could still find the delicate scent of sandalwood, the most comforting of all. The smell of Magnus. He closed his eyes momentarily, inhaling deep and slow, as he flexed his fingers wide and forced out the last remaining tension from his body.

It wasn’t that he’d had a bad day necessarily. He loved his family, he really did. But Max and his Father had been at loggerheads all day, something about Max only _just_ passing one of his training modules. His Mom had made at least two comments about Izzy’s dress, which couldn’t be interpreted as anything short of disdain, so of course his sister had been on edge. Not to mention, Robert and Maryse were still forcing themselves to pretend they should dine together as a family, despite the divorce. _‘Doing it for the kids_ ’ didn’t really matter when the kids were all grown up. But nevertheless, they all came together because ‘ _Christmas is a time for family_ ,’ which had left Alec with all the makings of a migraine as he’d attempted to hold it all together.

He was just glad that Magnus had chosen to spend time with his family instead. Even without Ragnor here, Cat and Magnus still went ahead with their traditions, which apparently included Chinese food and bad karaoke. Judging by the tired smile Magnus had been sporting when he’d finally walked through the front door, his Christmas had been a success.

A warm hand pressing against his cheek dragged him out of his thoughts. The cool metal of the rings adorning Magnus’ fingers contrasting with the soft skin of his palm as he tilted Alec’s face towards him.

“Penny for your thoughts?” he asked with a gentle smile.

“I’m just really glad to be home,” Alec returned the smile and raised his hand to hold Magnus’ palm to his face, leaning into the touch.

“We should exchange gifts, Christmas is almost over!”

Alec flicked his eyes up to the clock, realising only 15 minutes remained of Christmas day. At the mention of gifts, though, his grip tightened slightly on Magnus’ hand. He swallowed drily, nodding in agreement before reaching over to pull a rectangular box closer to him from where it had been hidden under the tree. It was wrapped as neatly as he could manage in bright green paper with fluffy polar bears all over it, he’d even stuck a bright foil bow in one corner. But the presentation, slightly messy as it was, wasn’t what had him worried. He’d agonised for weeks over what to get Magnus. How could you possibly buy a gift for someone who had spent 400 years indulging his own every whim? With magic at his fingertips, Magnus wanted for nothing. And that had really hampered Alec’s gift giving strategy.

With his family it was easy… Izzy’s eyes would stray pointedly over a shop window while they’d be out on patrol, a sign Alec clearly knew meant ‘ _that dress, please_ ’. For Jace, it would be replacing whatever item he’d most recently broken, be it weaponry or his signature leather jacket and for Max, always books - his baby brother loved reading about anything and everything. Not that their parents would ever know about the secret stash of mundane fantasy novels Max had hidden away!

“Family dinner that tiring, huh?” Magnus’ voice once again broke through. He tilted his head and fidgeted with his ear cuff, his kohl-lined eyes meeting Alec’s.

“Something like that,” Alec mumbled, shoving the box over at Magnus before his nerves got the better of him.

He twisted his hands in the soft material of the rug beneath him as he waited, breath held, for Magnus to lift the box and shake it gently next to his head.

“Not shoes? Hmm,” Magnus pondered, grinning over at him.

He slid a painted fingernail under the fold at one end, neatly ripping through the paper and sliding the box from within. He looked up at Alec once more before lifting the lid slowly. His face remained passive as he lifted the red, leather-bound book into his lap, carefully setting aside the packaging as he ran a hand over the supple material of the cover. The book was pushing at the cover, which was held shut with a leather clasp, the pages stuffed with a variety of objects. Undoing the clasp, Magnus flipped to the first page where a receipt was taped. Scrawled alongside it, in black ink and messy handwriting, the message ‘ _I still think calling it fatty tuna is degrading_.’

“We weren’t even together when I wrote this?” Magnus questioned, inspecting the next page which contained a fire message in Magnus’ own hand, agreeing to assist the Institute.

“I don’t really know why I kept it,” Alec admitted. “But it’s part of our journey. It felt important.”

Magnus looked up at him, eyes watery but lips curved up in a smile. Pressing a hand to his chest and taking a moment before returning to flicking through the scrapbook.

More pages containing various receipts and anecdotes of their time together, photo booth strips, fire messages and other trinkets.

“Is this… is this official clave documentation?” Magnus chuckled, inspecting the letter he’d just unfolded from one of the pages.

“Yes. It’s the official pardon from Izzy’s trial. Obviously no one knows this is missing, but it felt important to include.” Alec admitted, before mumbling, “You were really hot that day.”

“My, my, Alexander. A competency kink?” Magnus’ wink caused his cheeks to flame, but he still offered a quick roll of his eyes in response.

Magnus flicked through the next couple of pages until he hit blank sheets less than a quarter of the way into the book.

“We still have a lot of our story to live before we can capture it in these pages,” Alec explained with a shrug.

“Alexander, that might be the most poetic thing you’ve ever said to me.”

Magnus set the book down carefully on the coffee table, looking at it almost reverently before sitting up on his knees and leaning into Alec’s personal space. Cupping both cheeks between his hands, and moving in until their noses brushed, he whispered, “Thank you, I love it. And I love you,” before pressing his lips to Alec’s in a soft kiss.

Alec felt his shoulders sag as the remaining tension seeped out of them, lifting his hands to hold at Magnus’ waist, his fingers stroking over the silky purple material. Leaning in, he parted his lips to deepen the kiss, only to find himself pouting in mid-air as Magnus pulled back.

“I’m not sure I can quite live up to your incredibly thoughtful gift but we’ll see.” Magnus said, sitting back on his heels and flexing his wrist in a flourishing spiral of blue sparks, a small white box, the size of his palm appearing between them.

“Should I?” Alec gestured towards the floating box, reaching out and taking it when Magnus inclined his head in agreement.

The box was light and tied shut with a red, glittering ribbon that crossed around before tying in a neat bow. Alec held the gift gently in one hand, using the other to tug carefully at the ribbon until it fell away.

Alec lifted the lid of the box, peering inside to see a thick silver ring attached to a sturdy silver chain nestled against the velvety, red cushion of the jewellery box. Lifting it out of the box, he allowed it to swing in the air, dangling from his fingers.

“Thank you, Magnus,” he said. “Help me put it on?” He offered the chain over, ducking his head to allow the Warlock access.

“Before I do that, I feel I should explain. This isn’t just a trinket.”

“Oh?” Alec looked up cautiously, reaching out to clasp Magnus’ wrist where he was again fidgeting with his ear cuff.

“It’s a ring of mine. Imbued with old Warlock magic. I’ve manipulated the spells around it to attune to your energy signals.”

“And what does that mean?” Alec asked, sliding his hand from Magnus’ wrist down until he could interlace their fingers.

“Think of it like a diagnostic of sorts… It’s set up to remind you to take care of yourself,” he explained.

“Magnus, I always take care of myself,” Alec reminded him. He’d been a Shadowhunter for long before Magnus had come along. Of course he knew how to look after himself.

“I don’t mean in battle or on patrol, I know your training more than takes care of you then. I mean, the rest of the time. This will remind you if you’ve been doing paperwork all day and forgot lunch. Or if you’ve got a headache, that an iratze will help. Or to activate your stamina rune _before_ you set out on patrol if you’ve been in meetings for hours on end beforehand.” Magnus shook his hand free from Alec’s light grip, shuffling almost imperceptibly back and out of reach. “It’s overbearing, isn’t it? I knew it was too much,” he murmured quietly, almost to himself.

“No, of course it isn’t,” Alec reached forward, gripping Magnus by the shoulders and squeezing until he met his eyes. “It’s perfect. I am rubbish at remembering these things. You’re right. This is exactly what I need.”

“Really?” Magnus’ eyes glowed yellow briefly, his vulnerability shining through his glamour.

“Really,” Alec reassured. “Now, help me put it on, please?”

He ducked his head forward once more, offering Magnus the chain. This time, Magnus took it, carefully reaching around and attaching the clasp at the nape of Alec’s neck. The delicate brush of warm fingers and cold metal caused a shiver to run down Alec’s spine as he lifted his head, Magnus’ arms still circled round his neck and once more pressed their lips together.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [Eff](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eff_Dragonkiller/pseuds/Eff_Dragonkiller) for beta'ing this for me :)
> 
> You can also find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/notquiteascrazy) and [Tumblr](https://notquiteascrazy.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Want to chat to other Malec fans? Come hang out in the [Malec Discord Server](https://discord.gg/5nBgEp8)!
> 
> Thanks for reading!  
> Lex 💚💚💚


End file.
